Remember Pearl Harbor

The 50th anniversary of the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor is coming
up and nobody really knows how to celebrate it, or mourn it, or do what
ever people do when they are really upset that people died, or are really
upset that they killed people. Some Americans want to rekindle the past and
drop nuclear bombs on Japan, and many Japanese want to forget the whole
thing. Neither position is right, though. We should remember the past --
the real past -- but not through the fog of racism or the haze of false
forgiveness.

When Japan attacked the United States without proper warning on Dec. 7,
1941, it dragged the United States into a war that Japan had already been
fighting for 10 years. This much is true. Attempting to consolidate control
over East Asia, Japan had attacked China in 1931 and occupied it throughout
the decade, ultimately killing 100,000 civilians in the city of Nanking
alone. The United States opposed the attacks and imposed economic sanctions
on Japan, including an oil boycott. The Japanese government, angered by US
meddling in areas of Asia they believed to be their exclusive domain,
attacked the American Pacific fleet in Hawaii. The Japanese government had
sent a message to Washington warning of the attacks, but the message had
not been translated by the time the bombing occurred. Three thousand
Americans were killed. The rest is history.

I don't mean to dwell on the past, but I don't think we should forget it,
either. In Germany, students learn all about World War II, Nazism and the
mistakes of their ancestors. German leaders, except a wacky few, admit that
their forefathers screwed up, and the world is not afraid to trust Germany
as the world once was.

Germany has struck a balance with itself militarily. Neither
imperialistic nor isolationist, it contributes to peacekeeping forces when
called upon, yet remains weary of further buildup. German businesses still
sell chemical weapons to murderous dictators, and neo-Nazis still bash
foreigners, but at least the German government is aware of the subtle,
ancient flaws in their political culture, the racism and fear that the
greatest of German philosophers have warned them about for centuries.

None of this has happened in Japan. Some Japanese blame the United States
for a gap in understanding. True, when the United States occupied Japan
after Japan surrendered in 1945, it attempted to suppress painful war
memories to keep the Japanese happy. But the occupation ended 40 years ago,
and Japan hasn't moved very far on its own. For Japanese schoolchildren,
the war starts with the bombing of Hiroshima, and the belief that Japan is
destined for greatness, leadership and control has never changed. All the
official statements of regret following the war are empty oaths. The
Japanese are sad that World War II happened, sad that they lost --
convinced that wars are things that drop from the sky, not things that
people start.

Japanese foreign policy reflects this denial and confusion. At times
shell-shocked and stubbornly isolationist, Japan attempts to cut itself off
from the global security interests. At times bitter, it lashes out against
the world for hating it so much, and links any apology for Pearl Harbor
with the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, something the Germans have
never done even though they lost more civilians in the war than Japan. Some
Japanese talk of an economic conquest of Asia, and how it would succeed
where their military adventure failed. Others retreat into sadness,
pacifism and neutrality. The world needs neither.

It is quaint, and sometimes even comforting, to mourn the dead. But Pearl
Harbor's real meaning goes much beyond that. World War II in Asia started
as a trade feud that went too far. Japan fought the world because it
thought it could win, and more importantly, because it thought it had the
right to win. Japan attacked the United States when and where it did
because it thought Uncle Sam had gone soft. The United States, meanwhile,
scorned the Japanese for their sneakiness, instead of recognizing that the
United States had let itself be attacked by sleeping while it was supposed
to be vigilant. When the United States did put itself together, it proved
to the world that it was more powerful than it had ever been, and defeated
Japan through honest effort and shear strength, not whimpering.

Japan started World War II. Whether the United States had foreknowledge
of the attack on Pearl Harbor is irrelevant. The lessons of the attack and
the responsibility for remembering Dec. 7, 1941, apply to both peoples. The
United States and Japan must never ignore each other. They must never
excuse each other for their wrongdoings, and they must never believe that
they hold a monopoly on wisdom, morality or right to power.

who

Matthew H. Hersch, a sophomore in the Department of Physics, is an
opinion editor of The Tech.